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Why do we test for Glyphosate?

Glyphosate is in 80% of our food supply in the U.S., and may well be
the most toxic chemical ever approved for commercial use, according to
some scientists. Scientists now link glyphosate to kidney disease,
antibiotic resistant bacteria, inflammatory bowel disease, obesity,
depression, ADHD, autism, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, ALS,
multiple sclerosis, cancer, cachexia, infertility, and developmental
malformations. It reportedly destroys the microbiome of humans and
plants, which is seen by some as the root cause of many modern diseases.

The Glyphosate Grain Problem

The Glyphosate-tested program was started by Tropical Traditions due
to the glyphosate contamination of wheat and other grains in North
America. We have found that even wheat and other grains certified
organic, or marketed as GMO-free (there currently is still no approved
GMO variety of wheat commercially available in the market), will test
for the presence of glyphosate, sometimes at levels nearly the same as
conventional wheat.

So if there are no GMO varieties of wheat in the market, how is glyphosate getting into the wheat and other grains?

There are two reasons that a farmer wants to [use
glyphosate on non-GMO crops]. It is for late season weed control in
situations where he has patches of green weeds in the field that came up
late. [This is commonly done with wheat and barley.] It is a little
slower to harvest when weeds are present.

The other reason involves late season snow. In the northern region
such as in the Dakotas, in certain parts of Montana, and in the Prairies
of Canada, there is a very short growing season. If it snows on the
crop at harvest then you may lose the crop, because you can’t get back
into the field to do the harvest.

In these regions, 70% of the wheat and barley are desiccated with
glyphosate before harvest. [This kills the plant so that it will wilt
and dry]. Farmers don’t want to take a risk of losing their entire wheat
and barley crop, so they will take a cut in yield and quality by using
glyphosate a few weeks before harvest, and then harvest the crop early.

Farmers don’t realize how much they are contaminating that food or
feed product when they do this. They will accept the cut [in quality and
quantity of the crop], because that can buy them a week advantage in
harvest. It’s really more done for ease and planning. However, it is
just the dumbest thing you could ever do from a health and safety
standpoint.

In fact, beer brewers are having a problem with glyphosate. A few
years ago, when one of my colleagues wanted to get more Abraxis test
strips for testing materials for glyphosate residue, he was told that
they had a 3 month backlog. He asked, what was causing this? He was told
that every load of malt barley coming out of North Dakota has to be
tested, because the glyphosate levels were so high that it kills the
yeast in the brew mix. (Source.)

Anthony Samsel and Stephanie Seneff published as study titled: Glyphosate, pathways to modern diseases II: Celiac sprue and gluten intolerance in Interdiscip Toxicol. 2013; Vol. 6 (4): 159–184. They produced the following chart showing a correlation between glyphosate use on wheat and Celiac disease:

Organic Wheat not much Better than Conventional Wheat in Glyphosate Residue

Tropical Traditions decided to test this research
on our own. We bought commercially available conventional (non-organic)
wheat products from Canada, Montana, and South Dakota, and sent them to a
well-known and respected laboratory to test for glyphosate.

All tested positive for glyphosate residue. The range was from 0.07 mg/kg to 0.09 mg/kg.

Keep in mind this is glyphosate found in non-GMO
crops. For a GMO crop such as GMO soybeans, which are sprayed heavily
with glyphosate, the range is typically between 3.3 and 5.7 mg/kg. (Source.)

Next we tested USDA certified organic wheat.
Glyphosate is not allowed to be sprayed on organic wheat according to
USDA organic standards. Sadly, we did find the presence of glyphosate
residue in organic wheat, and other organic grains, including organic
barley, oats, spelt, and einkorn. The range was from 0.03 to 0.o6 mg/kg,
just slightly lower than the conventional grains we tested.

The only organic grains we tested that tested clean were organic rye and organic millet.

USDA Organic Standards Allow for Pesticide Residues:

The
USDA organic standards change so much that it is hard to keep up with
what the latest standards are. We knew, for example, that the EPA had
just increased the limit of glyphosate allowed in food in 2013, despite a
loud public outcry. (See: EPA Raised Residue Limits of Monsanto’s Glyphosate Herbicide).

So we were not too surprised to learn that the
levels of glyphosate we were finding in organic grain products were
within the limits allowed by the USDA for organic certification.
The organic standards for pesticide residue can be found here.

The EPA establishes the maximum allowed levels of
pesticides, or EPA tolerances, which may be present on foods. Although
most EPA -registered pesticides are prohibited in organic
production, there can be inadvertent or indirect contact from
neighboring conventional farms or shared handling facilities. As long as
the operator hasn’t directly applied prohibited pesticides and has
documented efforts to minimize exposure to them, the USDA organic
regulations allow for residues of prohibited pesticides at or below 5
percent of the EPA tolerance.

Since the EPA standards for glyphosate are already
very high, it was not surprising to find out that the levels of
glyphosate residue we were finding in USDA certified organic grains was
well within their limits. If both the EPA standards and USDA organic
standards were too low for pesticide residue, probably more than 90% of
the U.S. food supply would not be eligible for sale. It would be too
contaminated.

The Healthy Traditions Glyphosate-tested Program

Unlike the EPA and USDA organic program, we don’t
like any glyphosate residue in our food at all. So the Tropical
Traditions and Healthy Buyer’s Club product line has a zero tolerance
level for glyphosate.

For all grains now, we test every batch for the
presence of glyphosate. If we detect any residue present, we don’t sell
it. We are also beginning to test other organic products besides grains.
We cannot guarantee any food that has been outside is 100%
glyphosate-free since glyphosate has even been detected in our rain
water now. But we have no allowable limits at all, and so as we test our
products, if we find any glyphosate present at all, we will stop
selling it.

Is the Glyphosate-Tested Program a Guarantee?

No. To guarantee a product is 100% glyphosate-free
is impossible. We cannot test every single kernel of corn we sell, for
example. Here are our current testing standards:

1. Batch Control – The best way to monitor quality
is to be able to trace each product back to the producer. For products
we purchase directly from the farm, we test a sample from each harvest.
For products that are from more than one source, we require testing for
each batch. If it is a grain that needs to be milled, it must be tested after it is milled, or milled in a facility that only mills Glyphosate-Tested and GMO-Tested products exclusively.

2. Approved Laboratories – Currently, we useEurofins for all of our GMO and Glyphosate testing. Eurofins is considered the world’s leading laboratory in testing for GMOs.

We have a ZERO percent tolerance for glyphosate. If any residue shows up, no matter how small, we do not sell that product.